RAJEEV RAVIDAS Kalimpong, Dec. 20:Kalimpong
MLA Harka Bahadur Chhetri today indicated that he would float a new
"inclusive" and "secular" party that would not be confined to any
geographical boundary before the end of the year.

Chhetri said he would be sitting with his colleagues on the Kalimpong
District Demand Committee and other advisers in the next few days and
hopefully, be in a position to offer a New Year gift to the people of
the hills in the shape of a new party.

"We got Kalimpong as Christmas gift, and in order to make proper use
of this Christmas gift, we may be in a position to announce a New Year
gift," he said to wild cheers from the gathering at a programme
organised by the district committee at the Mela Ground here to celebrate
the government's decision to carve out Kalimpong district.

Mamata Banerjee had announced in Calcutta on Friday that Kalimpong would be made a new district.

Chhetri said the new party would be inclusive and would not confine
itself to a geographical boundary. "The party will be inclusive and
secular. Even its name will not bear the name of any one community or
communities. It will not be restricted by region either."

Chhetri said he could sense excitement among the people and time had
come to seize the moment and herald a new beginning. "Today, I want to
appeal to the people in Kurseong and Darjeeling, and my friends all
over, to do something new in this new atmosphere... Come forward in this
new atmosphere to herald a new dawn," he said.

Without naming Gorkha Janmukti Morcha president Bimal Gurung, Chhetri
urged the educated section not to keep association with uneducated
leadership. "I want to tell the educated friends what the value of your
education will be if you obey everything a leader who knows nothing
tells you. There is still time to make a course correction."

Seated on the dais were Darjeeling-Dooars United Development
Foundation president Mahendra P. Lama, former Morcha leaders Amar Lama
and Anmole Prasad. Mahendra Lama had contested the last parliamentary
elections against the Morcha-supported BJP leader S.S. Ahluwalia.

Amar Lama and Prasad had quit the Morcha following the killing of
Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League president Madan Tamang on May 21, 2010.
Lama is the younger brother of Tamang.
Mahendra P. Lama congratulated Chhetri and the people of Kalimpong on the upgrade of the subdivision to a district.

"District is a big achievement. Kalimpong has tremendous potential.
We can make the district number one not only in Bengal but in the entire
country," he said.

Earlier in the day, upon his arrival in Siliguri from Calcutta,
Chhetri scoffed at the Morcha leadership for resorting to
confrontational politics with the state government and for failing to
harness the provisions and powers conferred on the GTA.

He also ruled out the possibility of joining Trinamul

"The entire credit for making Kalimpong a separate district goes to
Mamata Banerjee. She had never ever told me to join Trinamul. If she had
put a condition that the state would announce Kalimpong a district only
if I joined Trinamul, I would have accepted it in the interest of
Kalimpong residents. But no such offer had come," the MLA told
journalists in Siliguri.

Chhetri said he couldn't say now if he would contest the next Assembly polls.
During his drive up from Siliguri, people stopped his vehicle at various points on NH10 and offered him khadas.

They shouted slogans hailing the formation of Kalimpong district and
in praise of Chhetri. In Kalimpong, he was given a rousing reception by
people. (Source TT)